PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 173, 19 August 1919, Page 6

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

OPINION AS TO RESULT. The effect of prohibition on the welfare of the people of the United States is.dealt with in The Verdict a paraph let issued in May o fthis year by a committee of prominent Americans. The committee, of which Professor Lemuel H. Murlin, president of -Boston-. University, i s chairman, has published statements by the governors of 28 oi the 32 States where prohibition was an established fact j't Mav 1, 1919, the four remaining States having bad piohib'tiou for periods of less than four months.

Summarised, the result of the queries was that 36 governors gave a verdict for prohibition, one against, and another was too ill to attend to his correspondence. The reply from the State of Marne, which has been “dry” since January 1, 1851, sated ‘ln .the past, enforcement was lax, nullification of the law became a system, so that oonditifone in some sections. differed little from conditions tinder license, but recently prohibition has been enforced throughout the .State, and even in the judgment of businessmen there has been a new demonstration of the value of prohibition.” Prohibition has been in force in Ran. sas for the past 38 years, and . .State Governor Aliens (stated: “Prphih tioni has contributed, much to our material welfare. Money that was formerly spent ini support of the liquor traffic has now gone into better food and those -Kings which mean better social conditions; but great a.-; has been the material advance, it is upon the moral side -hat Kansas has gained most. Crime has decreased, gaols in many counties have been entirely empty for a long time, and pauperism has decreased. The sentiment in Kansas_ is today practically unanimous in its support. The governor of North Dakota states:—“ Crime has been greatly decreased. We have had prohibition since 1889, and with the enactment of ‘bone-dry’ legislation the benefits of prohibition are even more in evidence.” The reply which wag opposed to pro hibition wag from New Mexico, the governor of which said :—“I 1 believe that every decent American is in favour' of the closing of the saloon, hut when we go further than the teachings of Chris and say that a man shall not .take a drink we are ad-oping a Jaw which is, and always will be. a failure.”’ The opinions of the mayor® and chiefs of police of the ten largest dues where prohibition had been in effect for over four months were also obtained, and, with no excep-ion, spited that proHibiton hadi been a success.